Posts by Indian Larry

33

How To Fade Away Cleanly?

by SplaneThisToMe in

jw
friends

this is my first post and hopefully i can get some advice and input.

i have been actively involved with the organization for a little over 10 years now.

i began studying in high school, got baptized and my family fortunately did not.

Indian Larry

Hi "Splane"

I was in exactly the same situation about 10 years ago. Fortunately for me two things came together that made it pretty easy for me to fade and keep all my friends.

I had a problem with one of the elders, he was wrong and the rest of them knew it.

2. I was fighting depression and anxiety (aren’t we all when we first learn that everything we had been taught from childhood was a lie)

I did not hide the depression/anxiety. I let them know that large groups of people got me on edge. I skipped two meetings and went to one, skipped three and went to one and so on. I always went to memorial. Every now and then a family member will ask me to go to the hall with them. I don’t fight it, but they know exactly how I feel.

We have an unspoken truce. I don’t try to convert them and they treat me as good as ever. I go to maybe two meetings a year now. Just got back from a weekend with friends that are still very “theocratic”. Had a great time. We just avoid the subject. If they bring it up, I stay noncommittal and change the subject as soon as I can.

It has worked well for me. The hard part is not trying to tell them how wrong the org is. That was really tough in the beginning, but with time away from it all now I care less and less. They do have friends and family and if they were to leave it would be horrible. For me at least this way works.

What will happen in the future? I don’t know, but so far so good. Just every now and then throw them a bone by going to the hall with them. At least now that everybody is using ipads/iphones you can just read a book to kill time during the meeting.

That is how I personally faded away cleanly. I have now been out so long that I am really at minimal risk for being DF’d since I am not considered part of the congregation any longer. I went to a funeral recently and saw a lot of the old congregation. Everyone was nice, friendly and no pressure at all.

30

If there was a resurrection in paradise

by Sour Grapes in

something that bothered me even when i was a watchtower company drone was the thought of dying and being resurrected in paradise.

would the resurrected person really be me or just a copy of me?

if god could recreate one of me, he could also recreate five of me.

Indian Larry

Sour grapes. I thought the same thing, with a twist. What makes us who we are is our life experience. If as some scripture says "the former things will not be brought to mind" then what affect would that have had. On the other hand if we actually have a soul, then I suppose the soul would go to heaven and then come back to the new body in paradise. So if we are just cloned info, much like backing up a HDD, does that get the essence of what we are as a person? Especially if we can not remember experiences from before?

44

Can you believe the opening song at the memorial tonight?!

by Indian Larry in

did anybody (who went to the memorial) notice the opening song?.

keep in mind that this is the most important night of the year for the witnesses.

it is supposed to be all about jesus christ.

Indian Larry

Dreary weather: You wrote:

"Special Possession", "Chosen race". If you read the JW publications, this scripture is applied to all the 144,000, not just the GB.

If you remember the original topic of this post was about them having 8 million people sing a song about them. The song is about them and you know it. The entire song is in the present tense, there is no mention of first century Christians. The song describes them as bringing in the "other sheep", something that was not done in the first century.

I have to agree with waton who said it best:

That song is an idolatrous self praise that the R&F is conned to participate in. stand upright, read and sing.

44

Can you believe the opening song at the memorial tonight?!

by Indian Larry in

did anybody (who went to the memorial) notice the opening song?.

keep in mind that this is the most important night of the year for the witnesses.

it is supposed to be all about jesus christ.

Indian Larry

Dearyweather, you said:

The 'spirit anointed sons' mentioned in the opening song does not simply refer to 'group of men' or the governing body. It includes all anointed christians (even those who are dead now), the first century apostles of Christ and other Christians (including women). According to JW's a vast majority of such anointed ones are already dead and are in heaven.The song refers to all the 144,000 anointed ones, not just the GB

That is technically correct. To be accurate I should have said the song is directed towards the 144,000. However there are elements of the song that make it seem like it is directed to the anointed that still alive, not those from the first century. For instance when the average witness sings "they are a people for your name" it sounds like people that are currently alive. When the song says "they declare abroad your name" that sounds like that is something that is currently being done.

The GB has made it clear that the anointed as a group do not lead the declaration of God's name, last July they made it clear that THEY are the ones in charge of that. So you can see why many (not all but many) of the 8 million people plus that sang that song were thinking of people alive (because they are described as currently declaring his name, handling truth aright etc). Another reason that many witnesses will consider this song to be primarily (not exclusively but primarily) about the GB is that the lyrics say:

"They gather the other sheep"

According to them that started being done in the 20th century. So that would rule out

all anointed christians (even those who are dead now), the first century apostles of Christ and other Christians (including women).

44

Can you believe the opening song at the memorial tonight?!

by Indian Larry in

did anybody (who went to the memorial) notice the opening song?.

keep in mind that this is the most important night of the year for the witnesses.

it is supposed to be all about jesus christ.

Indian Larry

DId anybody (who went to the memorial) notice the opening song?

Keep in mind that this is the most important night of the year for the witnesses. It is supposed to be all about Jesus Christ. It seems that the opening song should be one of praise for the person who not only had a part in creating the earth, and all life on it but also gave his life for us. Instead the opening song was a song of praise to the governing body/anointed . . . published by the governing body.

On memorial of Christ’s death the governing body assigned 8 million people to sing a song of praise . . to them. Song 147 - A Special Possession (1 Peter 2:9)

God has a new creation,

His spirit-anointed sons.

He has bought them from mankind;

His approval they’ve won. *

(CHORUS)

A special possession,

They’re a people for your name.

They love you. They praise you.

As one they declare abroad your fame.

They are a holy nation,

Who handle the truth aright.

God has called them from darkness

To his wonderful light.

(CHORUS)

A special possession,

They’re a people for your name.

They love you. They praise you.

As one they declare abroad your fame.

Faithful to their commission,

They gather the other sheep.

To the Lamb they are loyal.

His commandments they keep.

(CHORUS)

A special possession,

They’re a people for your name.

They love you. They praise you.

As one they declare abroad your fame.

They sure like to blow their own horn.

Also, I noticed that they did not mention the number of partakers from last year like they normally do. Kinda hard to explain when that number keeps going up

13

Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 3-26-2017 WT Study (January 2017) (REMAIN MODEST)

by blondie in

jw
friends

you can remain modest under test.

13:1-10.. comments .

Indian Larry

Thank you very much for putting up the reviews of each weeks watchtower. I may not comment very often but I do appreciate it a lot.

45

New light in this weeks WT?

by Indian Larry in

anybody have any ideas where they are going with the "new light" they have been pushing last week and this week?

for instance in this weeks study article one section reads:.

in years gone by, we believed that jehovah became displeased with his people because they did not have a zealous share in the preaching work during world war i. we concluded that for this reason, jehovah allowed babylon the great to take them captive for a short time.

Indian Larry

Fast Jehu - Thanks for the links. Tomorrow when my family is out in service I am going to try to download and install.

Listener - Thanks for the quote with source. I appreciate you looking that up and sharing it. I will share that with others.

Smiddy - Good point, however in my experience a logical question like that will cause a short circuit as they try to overcome the cognitive dissonance that that question brings up. I may try anyway but will have to do so with a gentle touch. Trying to keep my family.

Anders - That is it in a nutshell.

45

New light in this weeks WT?

by Indian Larry in

anybody have any ideas where they are going with the "new light" they have been pushing last week and this week?

for instance in this weeks study article one section reads:.

in years gone by, we believed that jehovah became displeased with his people because they did not have a zealous share in the preaching work during world war i. we concluded that for this reason, jehovah allowed babylon the great to take them captive for a short time.

Indian Larry

Anybody have any ideas where they are going with the "new light" they have been pushing last week and this week? For instance in this weeks study article one section reads:

In years gone by, we believed that Jehovah became displeased with his people because they did not have a zealous share in the preaching work during World War I. We concluded that for this reason, Jehovah allowed Babylon the Great to take them captive for a short time. However, faithful brothers and sisters who served God during the 1914-1918 period later made it clear that as a whole the Lord’s people did everything they could to keep the preaching work going.

This paragraph raises a couple of questions to me. It seems that this "new light" about preaching work came from "faithful brothers and sisters . . . . during 1914-1918". If that is the case why is it just coming out now? Anyone that was preaching during those years has been dead for at least 20 or 30 years now. Why change now?

They also brought this up. Why?

Therefore, as a group, they were not always neutral with regard to the war effort. For example, when the president of the United States decreed that May 30, 1918, would be set aside as a day of prayer for peace, The Watch Tower urged the Bible Students to join in the observance. Some brothers purchased bonds to provide financial assistance to the war effort, and a few even went into the trenches with guns and bayonets. However, it would be a mistake to conclude that the Bible Students were first taken into captivity to Babylon the Great because they needed correction and discipline.

Can anyone tell me the significance of the changes they introduced over the last couple of weeks. I had a friend who is "still in" call me and say that several people in his hall were pissed off about the changes. I have been away so long that I (thankfully) have not been following this like I used too. However, I do still have family in and a few friends I can talk to a little. They all know that I have really researched the history of the org a lot, so it would not be surprising to them if I mentioned anything from that time period.

The thing is that I no longer have the WT Library on CD, actually I no longer have a Windows computer period. I have gone all Mac so I cant research like I used to. I do know they have the WT Lib on the website but I am not nearly as proficient with that as the old version. I was hoping someone on this site might give me the cliff notes version of the changes. : )

Any quotes from articles with the "old light" I might share?

12

The Finished Mystery: 1917 Print

by Hadriel in

anyone have a copy of this book?

i'll pay hard cash :).. i don't know if this is appropriate to post so if not feel free to can the post.. pm if you have a copy and would part with it..